Mason Greenleaf—good teacher, good friend, fond lover—vanishes from his Mount Adams home one hot summer afternoon, leaving a haunting mystery behind him. For his fellow teachers, former students, and friends, his disappearance is inexplicable and tragic. For his lover, Cindy Dorn, it is a cruel blow that shakes the very foundations of her world. She calls Harry Stoner for help. Soon after, Greenleaf turns up dead in a sleazy hotel. The police call it a suicide—Stoner believes there's more to the story. As Stoner delves into the apparent suicide, disturbing questions surface about Greenleaf's past, questions about his sexual life. Greenleaf was bisexual, after the brutal Lessing case of several years past, a case that led Stoner to cover up an act of deliberate murder, Harry is not eager to probe into another gay man's violent death. But he can't walk away from Cindy Dorn, a woman to whom he is undeniably drawn. For Harry, an investigation that starts as a matter of conscience rapidly turns into a test of character and, through Cindy, a confrontation with what has been missing in his own life.
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"“ The eleventh Stoner mystery is as thoughtful as any in the series. Though Harry solves the case, he misses the motives every step of the way. Each of the key characters acts and reacts logically but never stereotypically. Even the most open-minded among us are burdened with prejudices and preconceived attitudes. Stoner learns this lesson the hard way.”"
— Booklist
“In his latest case, following Second Chance, Harry Stoner, the tough but soulful Cincinnati PI, discovers that detective work in the age of AIDS is a hard business…Stoner deals with a police force that has a history of harassing homosexuals. And he finds himself falling in love with his client…readers are left with an unexpected solution and an unusually affecting portrait of the victim and his times.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Jonathan Valin is a mystery author best known for the Harry Stoner detective series. He won the Shamus Award for best mystery novel of 1989. After writing eleven Harry Stoner novels over a fourteen-year period, he took a break from mystery writing to help found Fi, a magazine of music criticism. He now works as an editor and reviewer for magazines.
Mark Peckham is an actor and director based in Rhode Island. In addition to working with Trinity Rep, Virginia Stage Co., and many Boston-area theaters, he was the voice of Joseph Smith in the award-winning PBS documentary American Prophet with Gregory Peck.